And so it begins. Just as we’re approaching the end of our 2017 LISTMANIA series, we’re beginning another list — and it’s the only one for which your humble editor is personally responsible. I don’t have the mental ability or emotional maturity to make my own list of best albums, but I do force myself to make the list that begins today, though as you’ll discover, it’s not an easy process for me (though it does make for a lot of fun listening).

In fact, as in every year when I’ve done this, I’m starting the rollout of this Most Infectious Song list without having finished it — which means I don’t know how long it will be or when it will end. As in past years, I’m making it up as I go along. I’ll do my best to post 2 – 4 songs every day until I arbitrarily decide to stop, though I might miss a day here and there. My goal is to finish by the end of January, but no promises.

If you think this is a ridiculously inept way to make a list, you might consider that between the list of candidates I sporadically made for myself as 2017 rolled on, plus the lists provided by our readers (here) and by my NCS colleagues, I have a master list that includes almost 700 songs. It’s a mix of big names and very obscure ones from across virtually every metal sub-genre you can think of.Continue reading »

One of the worst offenders within the utter triteness that was the so called “re-thrash” movement was the rise of the whole crossover party thrash scene. I came to intensely dislike certain bands (who shall remain nameless) who seem to place all their emphasis on the energy and aesthetic of thrash but completely forsake all of the power, attitude, and uninhibited human rage that thrash encapsulates so well — while also having no good idea how to truly manipulate the hardcore aspects of their sound to give the music high-impact groove when needed.

Newer crossover thrash, however, has been seeing a YUGE renaissance. The newer Ringworm material, Iron Reagan (a band with Municipal Waste alumni), and the subject of this review — Power Trip — are producing music that is on a mission to recapture the genre and hit the turbo button, producing some of the most straight-up genuinely pissed metal on the planet.Continue reading »

I find myself at the middle of the week, drowning again in new songs and videos from forthcoming albums. As I made my way through my list of discoveries this morning, it dawned on me that an even dozen of them could be conveniently divided into three segments, with the songs in each segment bearing a relationship to each other — at least to my twisted mind. So that’s what I’ve done.

My original plan was to post all 3 parts today, interspersed among other things — and no sooner had I written that than my fucking day job diverted me for hours. I can’t believe they actually expect me to work for my pay. So, in the face of that outrage I’m only able to post Part 2 today, and Part 3 — along with all the other posts I had planned for the balance of today — will get shoved into Thursday, which will make Thursday overstuffed here at our rotund site. I’ll still keep my commentary brief.

POWER TRIP

The first song in this collection comes from Texas-based Power Trip. It’s called “Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe)”, and it appears on the band’s new albumNightmare Logic, which will be released by Southern Lord on February 24.

According to the band, this song is the catchiest one they’ve ever written — which is saying something. However, I’m not prepared to argue with them, because it really is ridiculously catchy.Continue reading »

When you confront a truly daunting task, sometimes the result is paralysis; the magnitude of the effort discourages effort. Experience teaches that sometimes the only way to overcome that paralysis is simply to make a start, no matter how small the step may seem. Usually easier said than done, but that’s what I’m doing today.

I’m sitting on a ton of recent music and videos I want to write about in the time I have left before our year-end LISTMANIA extravaganza inevitably begins monopolizing my time. I haven’t figured out how I will get everything out and before you that I think you should check out. But this is a start, selected in fairly random fashion, but with an effort to cover a range of styles.

SORDIDE

Early last month we enthusiastically premiered a stream of the new album by the French black metal band Sordide. Entitled Fuir la lumière, it is now available through Avantgarde Music and from the band. And as a further reminder about how good Sordide’s music, they’ve now released a live performance video. It was recorded on October 23 at White Noise Studio.Continue reading »

Happy Monday! I mean that sincerely, despite the usual depressive aspects of the day, because this Monday brought us three exciting new song premieres that I discovered soon after caffeinating myself strongly enough to stun a bull, plus an announcement of an exciting U.S. tour. And here’s what I found:

AENAON

As our regular readers are well aware, we have become ardent followers of the Greek band Aenaon since discovering the wonders of their 2014 album Extance, which made no fewer than four different year-end lists published at our site, as well as a host of our reader’s lists. It was also the source of a song (“Grau Diva”) that I included in my list of 2014’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. You may then be able to imagine how eagerly we have been awaiting the band’s new album, Hypnosophy.Continue reading »

In this post I’ve collected a small group of new songs that I came across while wandering through the interhole over the last 24 hours.

COPROLITH

I’ve been keeping an eye on this Finnish band (pictured above) since hearing their 2012 EP Hate Infected. When I reviewed it, I characterized the music as “the military-industrial complex of the nether regions, an effective fusion of titanic death metal might and melodic black metal hooks” and compared the band to the likes of Behemoth and Hate. They now have a new album on the way entitled Death March, which will be released in the fall of this year by Violent Journey Records.

Yesterday they released a music video for one of the new songs, “Life=Disease”, which is now available digitally through Amazon and probably elsewhere. The song reminds me less of those Polish behemoths than Hate Infected. It has more of an old-school death metal flavor, with a bit of a charred crust. It hammers and howls forcefully, with teeth bared and claws raking.Continue reading »

Here are three excellent new songs that caught my attention over the last 24 hours. The bands are Djevel (Norway), Power Trip (U.S.-Texas), and In the Burial (Australia).

DJEVEL

This band is composed of musicians from other well-known Norwegian bands, including vocalist Erlend Hjelvik (Kvelertak), bass-player Lloyd Hektoen (“Mannevond”) (Koldbrann, NettleCarrier), and drummer Dirge Rep (NettleCarrier, ex-Enslaved). But despite the impressive collective talent of those people, the star of this show is songwriter/guitarist Trond Ciekals (also in NettleCarrier). He shines on one of the band’s new songs, “Stjernesluker”, which premiered last week and will appear on Djevel’s second full-length, Besatt av Manne og Natt.

Even when the song is blasting and whipping like a cyclone, the tremolo melody casts a dark spell, but the music also transitions into a slow groove that will get your head nodding while more swirling guitar melodies work their magic. The rhythm section is also top-notch on this song, and Hjelvik delivers a sulfurous vocal performance. I like this song a lot, and it’s a promising sign for the album as a whole.Continue reading »